The city that induces sugarcoated dreams, shelters exhilarating emotions, boasts of its beautiful diversity! Like they say, Mumbai is a feeling not a city. Embracing this feeling with #MumbaiMeriHai,a campaign by Hindustan Times, giving an ode to this city.
Hindustan Times on Mumbai
Encapsulating the essence of Mumbai through their campaign, Hindustan Times created a campaign to put forth their adoration and perception for the city, at the same time engaging with their audience inducing them to indulge in this mutual affair.
Hoping to connect through the feeling, Hindustan Times (HT) shared #HTGetsMumbai by sharing three videos that broadly defines the metropolitan.
The first video revolved around the crux of this city, that the world identifies it with- Bollywood. Speaking of the immense craze this industry holds around the world, the content of this video speaks of how this place made multiple dreams come true for the big and the small. Right from the Kapoors to Khans, Bollywood that blossoms in the city has nurtured talent. This film managed to garner 225,173 views and 1.7k reactions.
The next video that received 355,622 views and 7.1k reactions, speaks of Sachin Tendulkar and the sport that echoes with his name - Cricket. The religion of this country, found its spot in the various nooks and corners of this country, from clubs to narrow lanes as the protagonist describes using a tinge of Marathi language in the film. The film also hints on to the cultural miscellany that fosters in this very land.
The third was for all the Bawas. Identifying the Parsi community thriving in this city, this film musically captures the peculiarity of this community, by covering their cafes, traits by adding a hint of their accent and the stereotype to this film. This film received 509k views, with 6.9k reactions and was shared over 6k times.
The brand through these films decided to envelope the massive chunks that make the city what it is, trying to get tremendously closer to the very existence of Mumbai.
Social media engagement
Hoping to squeeze in the minds of Mumbaikars, HT gets as local as possible and through this campaign portrays their sincere perceptive of the city. This campaign clearly targets a very local population through #MumbaiMeriHai and #HTGetsMumbai.
As the hashtags suggest, the brand brings out their bond with the city. HT interacted with their audience on Twitter by asking them to share their thoughts and sentiments around the city and connecting it with their hashtag, they asked what makes them #MumbaiMeriHai?
#Contest Mumbai stays with you forever. Tell us what you love about this lively city & what makes you say #MumbaiMeriHai #HTGetsMumbai pic.twitter.com/sIrpBO3T2C
— HT Mumbai Events (@HTMumbaiEvents) April 21, 2017
Wada Paav or Panipuri? What makes you say #MumbaiMeriHai
— Sir Bumraaah! (@Ibleed_sarcasm) April 21, 2017
Mumbai,smthing pulls u here! Once u've lived in this city,no other city is good enough❤ #MumbaiMeriHai #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/DTvG8SIzsS
— Aaman Trikha ?? (@AamanTrikha) April 21, 2017
The one & only one, LORD GANPATI BAPPA's Festivals can make u joy with Mumbai. Huge crowd of Hindu & Muslim can b seen here. #MumbaiMeriHai pic.twitter.com/gKZ3wZxuc5
— Lieutenant Anaya ? (@Lt_Anaya) April 21, 2017
The campaign was promoted through their sister handle HT Mumbai Events, thus funneling all the local news under this channel. Leveraging on influencer marketing, the brand took bytes from celebrities asking them to speak of their feeling towards the city.
The most stylish @varun_dvn says #MumbaiMeriHai.You too share your love for #Mumbai and tell us what it means to you #HTGetsMumbai #contest pic.twitter.com/4WY1vWNn4M
— HT Mumbai Events (@HTMumbaiEvents) April 21, 2017
Ultra handsome @TheJohnAbraham says #MumbaiMeriHai. Why do you feel #MumbaiMeriHai #HTGetsMumbai #contest pic.twitter.com/174ZAi3Zto
— HT Mumbai Events (@HTMumbaiEvents) April 21, 2017
.@kabirkhankk feels #MumbaiMeriHai because of its ultracasual style. What makes you say #MumbaiMeriHai #HTGetsMumbai @htmumbai #Contest pic.twitter.com/26DJXoZqxq
— HT Mumbai Events (@HTMumbaiEvents) April 21, 2017
Now, under this hashtag the publication house is covering local news, by bringing in stories from the corners of the city and creating a space to communicate under the umbrella of #MumbaiMeriHai.
This clearly shows a changing pattern in how media houses disseminate their news. This is a transforming phenomenon that even news needs to be advertised that we noticed in the media industry. By urging users to share local news using this hashtag, Hindustan Times seems to be revamping the concept of citizen journalism.
Currently, the publication house has enhanced its digital presence; parallel to this local campaign, the brand is also conducting a national campaign by becoming a voice for grave digital issue of trolls with #LetsTalkAboutTrolls.
Managing with campaigns of two different natures, Hindustan Times has an active digital presence in comparison to its fellow competitors.